The benefits of fibre

The occasion certainly did not pass unnoticed, with the prime minister in town to visit Manaia View School, the first location to connect to fibre back in 2011.

Principal Leanne Otene proudly showed John Key the ways in which fibre has benefited her pupils, eliminating frustration and decreasing truancy rates.

Otene says her students no longer remember a time before fibre and now have digital, rather than wooden, desks to store their school work. …

Board of Trustees member Kirsten Holtz says the technological transformation at the school has been “absolutely amazing”.

“There’s now one device for every two kids, and fibre has made online learning more accessible and instant, there’s no waiting around so there’s more learning.”

“Children are engaged, and engaged children are children that are learning,” she says.

In the next few years fibre will not be just in every school, but available to 75% of NZ homes. The impact in education is starting to show. The impact for other sectors will take longer to be realised, but may be no less significant.

Jack5

Talking about education standards, the recent international ranking by the Economist Intelligence Unit for the publisher, Pearson, is interesting. Fibre will help with internet access, but the net and computers are an aid – it’s still teachers and parents who count most.

New Zealand has dropped to sixteenth, compared with eighth place in the previous Pearson survey, in 2012.